India will play Australia in the third game of the Super Eights stage of the ICC World T20 at Bridgetown in Barbados. Both the sides have entered the second round with two, convincing wins over their opposition in the tournament and given that the two were pre-tournament favourites, this could go on to become a rather interesting game.

On paper, there wouldn’t be too much to choose from the two sides, but one has to take into account the pitch conditions. It has helped both, the pace bowling and the spinners, but with an early morning start, there is no doubt that the Aussie speedsters will make merry. That, to me, is the one factor that separates the two sides; and so, Australia (8/11 at Coral) will go into the game as favourites. Bet Fred offers 11/10 for an Indian win.

It will be interesting to see how the Indian openers, Gautam Gambhir (10/3 at Bet365 to top-score for his team) – back from his fitness issues – and Murali Vjay (7/2 at Bet365 to be India’s best batsman) go about their business in the game against bowlers who would have bowled to them in the IPL. Dirk Nannes was being led by Gambhir and now, the two will be against each other. However, the more exciting bit would definitely be the Suresh Raina-Aussie bowlers tussle.

One has already heard and seen a lot of the short-ball story against Raina (4/1 at Bet Fred to be the best Indian bat), and the Aussie pacemen may not be too scared to dish it out to him. How he copes with the bowling will go a long way in determining whether the Indians are able to get going. Yuvraj Singh’s (6/1 at Ladbrokes to be the best bat) slow return to form will be good news for the side as well.

Australia did not have a great match with the bat, and almost everyone but Michael Hussey (7/1 at Coral to top-score for his side) failed to get going. They will look to their opening pair of Shane Watson (3/1 at Ladbrokes) and Dave Warner (7/2 at Ladbrokes, both, to top-score for their side) to get a kick on and attack the fragile Indian pace attack – depleted with the injury to Praveen Kumar. With David Hussey (7/1 at Totesport to be the best batsman) showing signs of getting back to form, it will probably need Michael Clarke (11/2 at Boylesport to top-score for Australia) to not only get his runs, but also get them a tad quicker for the Aussies to form a well-oiled and a balanced unit.

Tips:
Favourites: Australia (8/11 at Coral)
Top Australia batsman: Shane Watson (3/1 at Ladbrokes)
Top India batsman: Yuvraj Singh (6/1 at Ladbrokes)